Producers of KBS‘s ‘Dream High 2‘ have revealed that filming for the new season will begin with fresh faces starting this December.

The first season, which debuted earlier this year, was a hit amongst fans with hot stars like Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Suzy, and Kim Soo Hyun. A lot of attention has been focused on the new cast, by co-producers Key East and JYP Entertainment have been keeping it under wraps, hinting that they’ll be fresh faces picked straight from their group of trainees.

On October 26th, a representative revealed, “There are a lot of talents amongst the trainees. We recently gave them several missions to carry out and have begun the audition process. We’re sure that the cast will be finalized by next month.”

In regards to the original cast making an appearance, they added, “The season is scheduled to begin airing in January so the schedule is up in the air. If anything, they’ll be making cameo appearances.”

Bae Yong Joon and J.Y. Park, however, will be making an appearance for sure. “This drama won’t be focused on them, though. The plot will revolve around the new stars so we haven’t finalized their screen time or anything. Even so, they’ll be characters that will definitely make an impact on the plot.”

While fashion editors pick the best high fashion outfits for fall, Korea Tourism Organization has been busy determining which Korean celeb goes best with each season.

Confused? So are we, but there does seem to be a huge tie-in with celebs and tourism in Korea, and (KTO) seems to love any creative way to talk about it.

According to (KTO), 7,936 people from a whopping 81 countries participated in the survey which asked recipients to pick the Korean Wave star that best represents each season. The survey was conducted on Facebook and Twitter as part of the organization's Visit Korea campaign, which operates websites in nine languages.

So "in" this season

Hyun Bin, the star of the drama "Secret Garden" and the most high-profile addition to the Korean marine corps, has been deemed the most autumnal, K-Pop group Girls' Generation are ladies of the spring, while their counterpart boy band Super Junior are apparently the most summery.

The choice for winter was a shoo-in, with Bae Yong-Joon, the beloved heartthrob of the "Winter Sonata" (the drama that launched the Korean Wave) again reaffirming the view that he looks best in a turtleneck and a fur-trimmed down jacket.

Riding the wave

Still looking for that Korean Wave/tourism connection?

Survey recipients said that while visiting Seoul 59.3 percent planned to go to a K-Pop concert, 58.32 percent said that would buy something connected to their darling star, and 57.9 percent said they would visit a filming locale of a Korean drama.

"With this survey, we are trying to discern the needs and inclinations of Korean Wave fans by region, which is why this survey was so important," said Je Sang-won, the manager of overseas smart tourism marketing at (KTO).

"From the information gathered from this survey we will develop more Korean Wave related contents and marketing."

And by that, we hope he means they'll open a gift shop selling Hyun Bin sequined tracksuits this fall.

The famous lines are back, and so is the famous first-love saga. But this time it is on the stage, not the small screen.

Few would argue that KBS’2002 mega hit drama “Winter Sonata” was not one of the first examples of hallyu. Thanks to its enormous popularity, the main actor Bae Yong-joon rose to heartthrob status in East Asia, while its filming location in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, has welcomed more than one million visitors in the last decade.

Now, celebrating its upcoming 10th year anniversary, series director Yoon Suk-ho has written a stage adaption which is currently being performed in central Seoul.

Previously, a different musical adaptation of the TV series was staged in several cities in Japan in 2006, including Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo. According to Yoon, the Japanese version was a lot bigger in scale and much more tragic than the current production in Seoul.

A scene from Musical “Winter Sonata.“ (Yoon’s Color)

And as Yoon noted, the show feels very much like the TV series. Its only stage background is the beautiful winter scenery of Nami Island in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, which was the filming location of the drama.

Actor Kim Seung-hoe, who plays the main character Joonsang, almost uncannily resembles Bae Yong-joon. Every piece of clothing he wears, from the long winter coats to the matching scarves rolled around his neck, remind the audience of the legendary character of the TV show.

The show is 80-minutes long, considered short for a musical. Many of the subplots and minor conflicts have been cut from the original, and the holes are filled with newly composed musical numbers.

Lee Ji-soo, who produced the soundtrack of this year’s highly successful animated film, “Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild,” was in charge of writing new vocal pieces for the show.

But most of the audience will fall for the variations of the original soundtrack of the TV series, which certainly compliment the show more than the newly composed scores.

Notably, “The Beginning,” an instrumental piece which was used as background music for the TV show, is beautifully rearranged with lyrics for the musical adaptation. Kim Seung-hoe brings a prolific performance for the piece.

“Winter Sonata” isn’t exactly about magic and pain of first love. It is a universal approach to a singular and unrepeatable event, which cannot possibly be replaced by something else. As reflected in the repeated lines, the characters search for Joonsang and Yoo-jin, the very first and irreplaceable events of their lives.

The show runs until March 18 of next year at Myungbo Art Hall in central Seoul. Tickets cost 50,000 won. Japanese subtitles available. For more information, call (02) 1544-1555, or (070) 7019-6707.

About this blog......

I'm not good in expressing my thought in
words, but I would like to use this blog as a platform to share with you all the sights and sounds of Yong Joon.
I also hope that by developing this blog, I will be able to know Yong Joon better, and at the same time, creating a bridge for all my dearest Bae sisters around the world.